Democratic Senator makes case for expansion of nuclear power

PRESIDENT TRUMAN SIGNS THE ATOMIC ENERGY ACT OF 1946

Writing in today's edition of Wilmington's The News Journal {www.delawareonline.com}, U.S. Senator Tom Carper of Delaware explains why nuclear power must play a key role in solving our national energy problems.

Carper writes:

In 1879, Thomas Edison created the first light bulb, starting an electric revolution. The following year, Edison opened the world's first electric power plant in Manhattan, fueled by coal to power 800 light bulbs in homes, businesses, and street lamps. As he watched the transformation, Edison could not have imagined the New York City of the 21st century.

Today, the electricity that illuminates homes, heats and cools businesses, and drives the economy comes from a variety of sources. Fossil fuels including coal and natural gas provide nearly three-fourths of U.S. electricity, but at a cost of dirty air, acid rain and dangerous greenhouse gases. Little did Edison know the potentially catastrophic effects of electricity from dirty coal.

Fortunately, there are other energy alternatives. They include wind power, natural gas and hydroelectricity. Significant advances are coming in solar energy, too, some of them emanating from research under way in Delaware. Some day we hope to burn coal cleanly, but that remains years away.

Today, nuclear power is the largest source of carbon-free electricity, providing roughly 20 percent of our nation's power. Electricity from nuclear energy helps avoid burning fossil fuels and reduces air pollution and global warming.

In the not-too-distant future, offshore wind turbines will begin to make a significant contribution to the state's energy supply, as could solar, biomass, and stronger conservation measures. But nuclear remains an important element of the current electricity supply.

Nuclear energy could do even more in the years to come. Today cars and trucks rely on gasoline, diesel and biofuels, which contribute to global warming and other environmental problems.

However, plug-in hybrids, such as the 80-mpg Chevrolet Volt that General Motors hopes to launch by late 2010, could free us from gas pumps, and address the economic, environmental and national security challenges that our gasoline addiction poses. Vehicles powered by lithium ion batteries under development would plug into electrical outlets at night, drawing on clean power like nuclear-derived electricity. This could transform our future.

Nuclear energy is not without its challenges. Safety must always be the top priority.

The 104 reactors in the United States must operate with the highest vigilance. Short-term storage of nuclear waste is being managed well, but long-term options, including reprocessing, are needed and should be a priority of the next presidential administration and Congress.

As chairman of the Senate Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee, I take this oversight responsibility seriously. All it would take to short-circuit America's renaissance of nuclear power is an avoidable accident or serious incident at a nuclear power plant. My admonition to the nuclear industry has become, "If it isn't perfect, make it better."

I have convened two hearings on safety before the Senate subcommittee. The first was on nuclear plant security, and the second one examined the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's licensing and relicensing processes for existing and new nuclear power plants.

In addition, my staff and I have inspected a number of plants in the mid-Atlantic region this year. My subcommittee may visit nuclear power plants and reprocessing facilities later this fall in France, where some 80 percent of its electricity is generated by nuclear power.

I am working with a bipartisan group of colleagues to ensure that the NRC has the leadership, resources and support it needs to carry out its mission.

The commission is currently reviewing nine applications to build what would be the first new reactors in the United States in more than 30 years, and several more applications are expected this year.

Half of the existing 104 nuclear power plants -- many of them 40 years old -- have completed NRC's rigorous, two-year relicensing process. Another 12 nuclear plants are undergoing that process now. Three of the reactors expected to seek relicensing for another 20 years are Salem Units One and Two and Hope Creek, located across the Delaware River in New Jersey. They employ several hundred Delawareans.

Work is also under way in both the public and private sectors to retain and expand a work force to construct and operate a first-class nuclear industry. A nuclear renaissance would create an estimated 38,000 good-paying jobs. They could be filled by soldiers coming back home or by Americans laid off by the automobile and manufacturing industries, as well as by graduates from colleges, high schools and training programs run by building and construction trades unions.

As Thomas Edison said, opportunity is sometimes missed because it comes dressed in overalls and looks like work.

Providing electricity while protecting the environment and growing the economy is hard work, but it is also presents amazing opportunities. Nuclear power is poised to play a key role in meeting our energy challenges and realizing our potential as the 21st century unfolds.

U.S. Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, a Democrat, serves on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works and is chairman of the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080727/OPINION09/807270309/1004/OPINION